What dark gastronomic slip does Annabel Crabb have to confess to an unsuspecting guest? How did Mary Anderson change the life of Frank Woodley - despite the fact the two of them have never met? How did a plate of steak teach Missy Higgins a firm lesson about not being too hard on herself?

The act of letter writing allows us to slow down and truly connect, with a person, a subject, an idea. At their hugely popular Women of Letters events, Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire encourage and allow our best and brightest to lay bare their sins and secrets, loves and loathings, memories and plans. Collected here for the first time, these dispatches from Australia’s favourite people are warm, wonderful and astoundingly honest.